Television or similar tower



Sept. 17, 1957 E. H. cox 2,806,560

TELEVISION QR SIMILAR TOWER Filed Oct. so, 1953 mvENTdR J El yen e E 00%L ATTORNEY,

United States Patent TELEVISION 0R SIMILAR TOWER Eugene H. Cox, Tipton,Ind. Application October 30, 1953, Serial No. 389,396

1 Claim. (Cl. 18913) This invention relates to a new and improved towerfor supporting a television antenna, or for a similar purpose.

One object of the invention is to provide a novel tower which iss'ufiiciently rigid to require no guy wires yet sufficiently yieldableto avoid breakage under wind pressure.

Another object of the invention is to provide a tower construction fromelongated prefabricated sections which may be easily assembled andattached to each other.

A further object is to so proportion the sections that the tower willdecrease in diameter from its lower to its upper end.

A still further object is to so proportion the sections that they may becompactly nested into an assembly no longer than the sectionsthemselves, thereby facilitating packaging, shipment and delivery.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a novel constructionwhich may be expeditiously manufactured and profitably sold at a fairprice.

With the above and other objects in view that will become apparent asthe nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists inthe novel form, combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter morefully described, shown in the accompanying drawing, and particularlyclaimed.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a diagram showing the improved tower;

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the lower tower section showing the Wayof anchoring it to the ground and also showing portions of the nextsection attached to said lower section;

Figure 3 is a horizontal sectional view on line 3--3 of Figure 2; and

Figure 4 is a diagram showing the sections nested.

The drawing illustrates the preferred construction, and while thatconstruction will be rather specifically described, it is to beunderstood that minor variations may be made without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

.A six-section tower has been shown, the six sections being generallydenoted at 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. These sections are of difierentdiameters which gradually decrease from the lower end of the tower tothe upper end thereof, permitting nesting of the sections prior toerection as illustrated in Figure 4 and imparting an upwardly taperedform to the tower when erected as illustrated in Figure 1. All of thesections are identical except for diameter and said sections arepreferably all of the same length. The lower section 5 has been shown indetail and a description of this section will sufiice.

Three vertical corner members 11 are provided extending from end to endof the section 5, said corner members being uniformly spaced around the12 as shown in Figure 3. At intervals, those corner members areconnected byhorizontal tie bars 13 which are riveted or otherwisesecured thereto, as indicated at 14. The corner members 11 are oftubular metal stock and the tie bars 13 are preferably metal channelswith their ends flattened and then curved to provide seats 15 engagingsaid corner members.

The major portions of the lengths of the corner members 11 are parallelwith the axis 12. The upper portions 16 of said corner members, however,incline toward the axis 12, from substantially the elevation of next tothe uppermost series of tie bars 13, substantially to the elevation ofsaid uppermost series of tie bars. From this latter elevation, thecorner members 13'extend again vertically to the upper extremities ofsaid corner members, as shown at 17. The lower ends 18 of the cornermembers 11 are expanded to impart an internal diameter to them equal tothe external diameter of said corner members. Both ends 17 and 18 ofeach corner bar 11 are formed with suitably placed bolt holes 19.

The various sections 5 to 10 are connected with each other on the groundby telescoping their ends 17 and 18 and extending bolts 20 through thebolt holes 19 as seen at the upper end of Figure 2.

The entire tower is anchored to the ground after erection by engagingthe expanded lower ends 18 of the corner members 13 with anchors 21embedded in concrete 22 and bolting said ends 18 to said anchors, asseen at 23 at the lower end of Figure 2. The concrete 22 may be a singlemass extending a safe distance into the ground, or three separatemasses.

It will be seen from the foregoing that a simple and inexpensive, yet ahighly desirable sectional tower has been provided, which will attainthe desired ends, and while preferences have been disclosed, attentionis again invited to the possibility of making minor variations withinthe scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed is:

A tower structure comprising a group of separate units connectedtogether in end to end relationship, each of said units comprising aplurality of spaced, vertically disposed, elongated corner members, saidcorner members being connected by a plurality of transverse bracemembers which extend between said corner members and with said cornermembers define the sides of said tower, each of said units furtherhaving said corner members shaped to define a unit having a lower,elongated, straight portion, an inwardly directed, relatively short,tapered intermediate portion and a short, reduced straight upper neckportion, said corresponding portions of connected units being parallelto each other, the base dimensions of each successive unit of the groupbeing equal to the dimensions of the neck portion of the next'lower unitand of lesser outside dimensions that the inside dimensions of said nextlower unit, whereby said group of units forming a tower may be nestedfor shipment by telescoping each next lower unit over its next upperunit.

Tashjian Aug. 16, 1927 Cohen Oct. 16, 1945

